Golf Driving Tips: Driver Swing Plane

Take a tip from Hogan...try this rounded delivery for a powerful plane and solid striking.

Here's a drill you can go out and have a lot of fun with when you practice, one that really will improve the efficiency of your swing and reward you with a solid and consistent shot pattern.

Those of you who have read or studied any of Ben Hogan's books on the swing will be familiar with the fact that he advocated pulling the right foot back a little (i.e. to create a `closed' stance) for the driver. Hogan's thinking was that this helped him to turn his right hip and right side out of the way nice and early in the backswing, which enabled him to get fully behind the ball. I like this thinking and, given that the majority of golfers are prone to swinging across the ball from out to in, anything that can help them re­route the club to approach the ball from the desired inside path has to be a good thing. And this drill certainly does that.

So, with your right foot pulled back at least four or five inches from square, work on rotating your hips and your upper body until you can make a backswing that sees the clubshaft agrees with your stance at the top (i.e. the shaft matches up with the line across your toes).

Naturally, this is setting you up to hit a raking draw and that's precisely the key to this exercise. From the top of the swing, your left side pulls away, creating all the room in the world for the right side to `fire' and release the clubhead through the ball.

Commit yourself 100% to the shot, rotating your body all the way to a wrap­around finish.

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